Sanchez

Agreed, I withdraw my statement. My favorite was someone's Mt Tabor N Face trip report. I still crack up everytime I'm there running or whatever and I picture these drunk guys in climbing gear stumbling up the trail by the stairs. Or at least that's the vision I created in my mind from years of doing just that (having grown up in the area and done 95% of my underage drinking there).

Hmm, trip reports about the south side are on thing, but trip reports about south side attempts, I'm not so sure... I feel like I'm being a dick, but on the other hand, maybe this could be compressed into a running thread about S Side conditions instead of a new essay every monday that tells us about the 2nd most climbed volcano in the world (that dogs, blind people, kids, 95 year olds climb every year)? And elevation sickness at 10k might be clue that climbing is not your thing. Sorry, thanks for the report, just had to chime in with that.

How's WCR looking from a skier's perspective? Looked a little too steep and icy from your pics... How about crater rock to top of palmer for skiing?

Where can I get me one of those T-shirts? Sweeeeeeeeet...

No kidding Ivan, I've got some stories from that place. I grew up within biking distance from there so as soon as I saved enough $$ to buy some rock shoes, a harnass and a rope I was there. If my mom had any idea... I remember one time (I was 15) I was trying to set a top rope anchor with my left hand while standing on a thin ledge, clinging to some old dead tree roots for support. My buddy slipped and landed on his butt next to me, I grabbed his shirt collar with my "free" hand to stop him, we both almost took a 100 foot dive. We always wondered how many people had fallen there... Ah the joys of trial-and-error climbing education.

St Helens on saturday 01/17/09: Marble mount is open again, maybe 30 total people climbing that day. Snow is still 3 feet deep even at 2700 feet, skinning was good although icy and lots of deep footprints. Despite the warm temps, things remained pretty hard until well after noon. Skiing back down was all time though, perfect 1" corn on top of firm, with a few hundred feet through some softer mush around 4500ft. There are some booby traps and hazards on the route, so watch yourself, especially coming down. My buddy almost skied off a blind drop/false horizon near treeline that would have messed him up good. Avy danger was so low I wondered why I even brought my beacon.

You guys are nutbags, keep up the good work.

So you started at the Meadows parking lot? I guess this time of year that is the way to go, I was in winter mode and was suprised to see so much bare dirt on the west facing slopes below the Steel Cliffs. In other words, DAMMIT!!! I knew it!!! I was trying to justify my decision to bag out on WyEast the whole weekend, guess I have no excuse.

I'll add my interesting observations to the thread: was poking around upper white river canyon on thursday night attempting to find a way across to get up Wy'East. This was only about 100 yards from the top right corner of the Palmer groomed climber's trail. At about 3 am after the moon was down we were walking over to take a look and I watched in horror as my partner fell knee's-deep into a hidden bottomless pit. He wriggled out, we shined headlamps down and saw blackness... we proceeded as though we were in a Burmese mine field over to the edge of the canyon and were greeted with huge open Cravasse/Serac-type things. A unanimous "oh shit" was muttered from both of us. I think these unusual formations are a result of really big powder snow drifts piling up the canyon and are now melting out unevenly. In the pitch dark they seemed pretty intimidating so we chickened out and did the South Side just to avoid having our manhood totally shot. Great conditions, suprisingly cold even as they sun came out. One guy was bivy'd on the summit and was not looking too happy about the steady wind and freezing temps... Once daylight hit we realized that we could have easily crossed the canyon lower down, although the traverse back up to the WyEast ridge is totally dirt/choss and would have sucked. Above palmer it looks like Februrary up there though, lots of climbing left to be had. Pretty scary being that close to Palmer and having hidden booby traps, totally caught us off-guard.

Going to take a Wy'East summit ridge shot on Thursday night, anyone been up there lately? Usually by this time of year there's dirty rock that needs to be dealt with, but I'm optimistic I'll be ice tooling it across the ridge. On a separate note, I would not want to be doing the S. Side this weekend, it's going to be a mob scene. Enjoy the weather window* *=this time of year should be one big window instead of one day at a time...

Wow!!! Wild cloud pics! Last time I made it above Tie in rock, I stopped to munch a cliff bar and take a quick break when all of a sudden a marmot darted out of a little snow cave and ran right between by legs. It scared the absolute shit out of me... what the heck do those things eat up there?!

Nice work Ivan, that shelter was totally buried when I was up there a month ago, I just saw the roof poking through a big snow drift : ) Can't wait to take another shot at this route, I failed my first attempt 3 years ago, and want retribution!

Dudes, the road is closed not far after the Tilly Jane Trailhead, sorry but you're humping the 3 miles to TJ the old fashioned way. I've been looking to get up this route as well, just can't find anyone crazy enough to do the 8 mile one way slog with me... Hiked up to 8.5k three weeks ago with the dog to scout it out, route was A+++ and could have been done ropeless and cramponless. Of course four 90 degree days and some warm rain can change things quickly... planning on bringing some ice screws and two tools if I go.

It is total BS that they throw their weight around about upper Heather. I have always started at Timberline and traversed under the steel cliffs to Wy'East, but it seems pretty weak that Meadows can shut down the access to dozens of square miles of mountain just because they have a "Conditional Use Permit" to run a ski area. I'm pretty sure the legality of the whole thing is very grey- I think they only have the right to boot you out if they assess imminent danger to you or other guests at their ski area from your presence on the upper mountain (like you kick an avalanche down, or they are blasting and don't want you there). I'm pretty sure in a court of law they would have a hard time making something stick unless they could prove that you interferred with their avy control and therefore endangered lives. Interesting topic indeed...

Oohh, Avy danger is going to be nuts on that slope tomorrow, please do yourself a huge favor and be very thorough in your analysis before you start bombing up/down. Great call though, WyEast will be rocking for another month with all this snow. I would personally recommend holding off until some considation, but good judgment at the scene is the best way.

Looks like we are all on the same page. I might let this weekend play itself out and do something a little safer. Unfortunately what I'm afraid will happen is: sun and warm weather creates ice layer, April wet snow dump comes next week, then we have a classic recipe for slides. Oh well, it will never get perfect, I guess I should be happy we have lots of snow and a long season to look forward to.

Thought I'd poll the electorate on avalanche predictions for the coming warm weather this weekend. Too early to start thinking about spring slides, or supreme paranoia time? Thinking pretty hard about that rather ominous slog on the NE face of our favorite Oregon mountain, but not excited about being exposed to 3000 feet of warming snow on the slope above me.